William J. Gelm, shareholder, is chair of the Public Finance Industry and the Education Law, Charter & Private Schools Industry groups, formerly served on the firm's board of directors, former chair of the firm's Diversity, Equality and Inclusion committee and a member of the real estate, bank and finance and the corporate practice groups.  In his practice, Will works almost exclusively with nonprofit organizations in connection with corporate structuring and governance, real estate and real estate finance, and other general business law matters with an emphasis on the acquisition, development and financing of qualified nonprofit facilities using tax-exempt bond structures. During his career, Mr. Gelm has served as borrower's counsel in over 300 tax-exempt bond issuances in five different states, placing over $3,000,000,000 in tax-exempt and taxable bonds.

In addition, Will acts as general corporate counsel to a number of nonprofit corporations relating to corporate matters including corporate organization, board formation, composition and governance issues, conflicts of interest, tax-exempt qualification and compliance matters, and state and federal regulatory issues. He frequently conducts corporate and governing board training seminars for nonprofit clients regarding individual board member fiduciary responsibilities, board procedures and conflicts of interest taking into consideration limitations imposed upon nonprofit boards by corporate law, tax law and regulations.

Will also serves as lender's counsel when making loans to nonprofit corporations, investment banking firms as special disclosure counsel in bond financing transactions and corporate trustees in  connection with bond financing transactions.

Bar Admissions

• Arizona

Education

• Case Western Reserve University School of Law, J.D.
• Case Western Reserve University, B.A.

• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Arizona Charter Schools Planned Re-Opening

  By William Gelm, Shaleen D. Brewer |July 2020

• The Case for Bond Financing for Charter Schools
• Buchalter COVID-19 Client Alert: Arizona Charter Schools Planned Re-Opening
• William Gelm and Roger Hall to Speak at the 2012 Arizona Charter Schools Pre-Conference Sessions
• William Gelm, Moderator and Speaker at the Arizona Charter School Association Annual Conference